How to Dry Magic Truffles

How much of the moisture evaporates when you put magic truffles to dry for 72 hours? We found dozens of different answers on the big bad internet - no exaggeration. That's why we at Dutch-Headshop put them to the test. We dried 16 kinds of magic truffles for you to answer this question. In addition we briefly tell you about the dosage and how drying truffles is useful for micro-dosing.

Disclaimer – You’re not allowed to dry magic truffles

In the Netherlands we are faced with a loophole in the law which means that magic truffles are not restricted in the same way as harvested magic mushrooms. Magic truffles are legal in the Netherlands, provided they are fresh. The magic mushroom growing kit is also legal. Dried natural products with a psychoactive effect are processed natural products. And that is one thing that is not allowed to be sold. However, we think that when you dry truffles and inform yourself correctly, you get the same product. Pay attention to the section under "Dosage", because after drying, your truffles will be three times more concentrated per gram. Drying truffles is at your own risk.

Drying Magic Truffles - Research by Dutch-Headshop

You are reading that right. Magic truffles lose about 60% of moisture. Therefore a gram of dried magic truffles is about 3 times stronger than a gram of fresh truffles. We have investigated this through a method that you can also apply at home. No food dryer, industrial Breaking Bad equipment or even an oven.

Supplies

  • Magic truffles of your choice
  • Kitchen paper
  • Fan (optional)
  • Patience for a day or 3

Method

Open your bag of truffles and break the large ones into small pieces. The smaller the pieces, the better they dry. Place your truffles scattered on a piece of kitchen paper. Out of direct sunlight and especially out of reach of children and pets. If you have a fan, you can put it at some distance from the truffles on a low setting. If you put it too close, then the truffles will be all over the place in no-time and within a few days you will have tripping mice.

fresh magic truffles

Fresh Hollandia truffles, crumbled into smaller pieces.

The point is to keep the air above the truffles moving. It doesn't have to be a storm. Let the trip nuggets dry for 72 hours. A golden tip: work clean and wear gloves when handling them. Then you can reduce the risk of contamination with (other) fungi.

Test setting

We had 16 different kinds of truffles drying on the same countertop in our company kitchen. Well, it just didn't fit, so we had to put the  aside for a while. That's a mishmash of 2 truffle species (Hollandia and Odin's Jewels) that we had already put on the rack. We weighed each species beforehand with a highly accurate milligram scale, let the truffles dry for 72 hours, and weighed them again to determine the amount of moisture. We set up a temperature and humidity meter nearby. These indicated about 22 degrees Celsius and 55% relative humidity, both before drying and after drying. Room temperature is important here, since higher temperatures cause accelerated breakdown of active ingredients such as psilocybin. It is also important that you do not put the truffles in direct sunlight. UV light accelerates the degradation process of all organisms. Presumably there will therefore be less psilocybin in your truffles if they have been in the sun for a while. To be thorough, we also turn off the light in the kitchen. So the truffles are drying in a dark, well ventilated space.

dry magic truffles

Dried Galindoii truffles. These lose a lot of moisture.

Results

It appears that the truffles lose about 60% moisture with the drying method above. The colorful bar graph below shows what we measured, accurate to the milligram:

drying truffles moist level

Do all types of truffles contain the same amount of moisture? Some preliminary conclusions can be drawn from this test (small scale test):

  • Tampanensis, Hollandia and Mexicana truffles naturally contain less moisture.
  • On average, Galindoii (Mushrocks) truffles contain the most moisture.
  • Magic truffles lose between 31 and 67 percent of moisture when dried for 72 hours: these are the most extreme values we have tested.
  • On average, however, they lose 54 to 60 percent of moisture, depending on how you measure*.

* Moisture content - Average: 54.4. Median (middle value): 59.5. Average (excluding outliers): 60.3. Lowest: 31.7. Highest: 67.4.

Why should you dry Magic Truffles?

There are a few situations to consider why you may not want to take magic truffles fresh. The most important is the shelf life. Magic truffles are delivered fresh and therefore have a limited shelf life. Dried truffles last 3 months to a year. Vacuum pack them, for example with a convenient and inexpensive TightVac can and put them in the refrigerator.

For microdosing, dried truffles are not better, but they are a lot more convenient. If you put the truffles in capsules, it doesn't all stick together. And our plant-based capsules retain their shape nicely. Tip: if you want to grind fresh truffles, use our specially designed Magic Truffle Grinder. Dried truffles, however, are as hard as pebbles. It is better to use a clean or the new metal grinder with sharp teeth.

truffles drying setup

Our budget test setup. Note the distance between the fan and the truffles to prevent them from blowing away as they get drier (and lighter).

Finally, by taking dried truffles, you can dose less. This saves two thirds of the meal. Easy if you find the flavour of magic truffles the most unpleasant thing about the whole trip! Calculate your truffle and magic mushroom dosage here.

Magic Truffles Dosage and use

Please note. Your magic truffles are a lot stronger per gram after drying. Also, you evaporate no active substances by using the method above. A pack of truffles remains just as strong; you only evaporate water. Divide your fresh dose by 3 and you have approximately the dry dose. Chewing these hard things is no fun. Make some tea or soup of them to let them expand again, or grind them up and put them in a meal. Have a safe trip!

We keep it short in these quick tips. Check the following useful blogs for more information on magic truffles and the closely related magic mushrooms: